ASIMILASI 2 is a sequel to ASIMILASI (refer to the image on the right) that was done earlier in 2014. Like the precedent work, it is also conveying the success (or the struggle) of the assimilation of the diverse ethnic groups in Malaysia in establishing a one nation identity, i.e. 1Malaysia. This process (assimilation) has been in progress since the 1800's when the colonial master, the British Empire, brought in Chinese for mining activities and Indians for agriculture. The assimilation has, to some extent, achieved harmonisation given that the different ethnic groups have co-existed for more than 2 centuries.

Each element in the art composition represents an ethnic group: Dragon Dance for Chinese; Indian Dancer for Indians; and Silat (a form of martial arts) hand gesture of Laksmana Hang Tuah (a mythical historical Malay hero character) for the Malays. The backdrop in black silhoette is the Mount Kinabalu representing Borneo that contributes a huge piece of its geography to Malaysia. With the production of this piece, I have personally improved my technical art methods further by exploring the use of pencils and white acrylic to manifest a subtle showcase of realism particularly on the breast area of the Indian dancer and the furry white material on the head of the lion for its eye lids, hair, moustache as well as the beard. It is indeed a rewarding experience. Mixed media can do wonders!

This surah is a profound surah. In many Muslim's life, it acts as an opener to many things be it for prayers or other daily deeds. Hence, the referral to "of My World" in the title of the art piece. I will explain in detail the background information on this surah in the later paragraphs as I would like to start by telling you the inspiration behind the creation of this art piece. Why Al-Fatihah and why Planet Earth? Well, as mentioned earlier, this surah is profound to any Muslim's life, including myself. I feel compelled to express (artistically) something as significant as this that I use in my daily life.

Since this surah is quite pervasive in the Muslim world, I have chosen Planet Earth as the object of representing the profound essence of the surah. As you can see, I have chosen Antarctica and its clouds as the home for the surah in this piece of art - simply because it provides the space for the surah as well as preserving other parts of the canvas for effective showcasing of the Planet Earth. Philosophically, it works out well because the nature of clouds is in itself enveloping (the Earth) suggesting that the Earth is wrapped in an ozone layer that contains air, oxygen, whatever, you name it, that is the source of the livelihood of living things on Earth. In short, it highlights the greatness of God, that is the very essence of Al-Fatihah.

Sūrah al-Fātiḥah, "The Opener", also called “The Exordium”, has many names. This Surah is named Al-Fatihah because of its subject-matter. Fatihah is that which opens a subject or a book or any other thing - it opens the Holy Quran. In other words, Al-Fatihah is a sort of preface. It is also called, Umm Al-Kitab (the Mother of the Book), and Sab'a al Mathani (Seven repeated verses) according to the majority of the scholars, who refer it to a hadith and an ayah. Al-Fatihah was also called Ash-Shifa' (the Cure). It is also called Ar-Ruqyah (remedy). This surah is probably the most recited surah as the 1.6 billion Muslims in the world repeat this surah in their daily prayers at least 17 times a day.

The English translation of the surah is as follows:

In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.

Praise be to Allah, the Cherisher and Sustainer of the worlds;

Most Gracious, Most Merciful;

Master of the Day of Judgment.

Thee do we worship, and Thine aid we seek.

Show us the straight way,

The way of those on whom Thou hast bestowed Thy Grace, those whose (portion) is not wrath, and who go not astray.

The flow of this Surah has another very logical explanation, which can be summarized as the philosophical background of the Surah. As per the Quran, human beings are born with a combination of two things: soul and body. According to this view, a soul is a command of Allah, and therefore naturally recognizes the existence of its Lord and also has the love of its creator. It is the nature on which every child is born as Allah says: "and be steadfast on the Nature whereupon Allah has created mankind" (30:30). Under this view, if the soul has not been perverted (e.g. by repeatedly ignoring its calls - or the calls of the conscience), it is a pure soul.

When a person gets to age of maturity and begets a sound mind, then the combination of a pure soul, a pure heart and sound mind result in Wisdom (Hikmah) which discovers certain facts about the existence of the universe. It is this wisdom which determines that "All praise and thankfulness is to Allah, [The] Creator, Owner, Sustainer of the Worlds", who must be " the All-Compassionate, the All-Merciful" and also must have "no equal", who must be "almighty", "all-knowing", "free of flaws", "just", etc. (most of Allah's names are his qualities as well). Some Muslims believe that these qualities of Allah were recognized by people such as Confucius and Luqman who were not Prophets (i.e. did not receive revelations from Allah), but who acquired this knowledge by reason and wisdom.

Islam also holds that that wisdom demands to be true is that there must be an after-life, where actions of human beings are rewarded or punished for (which is a corollary of the quality of Allah being "Just"). Thus the next ayah calls Allah "Owner of the Day of Recompense." Once the wisdom of a man brings him to these conclusions, he is then left with no choice but to ask this deity, who possesses all the above qualities (i.e. Allah), that "You alone do we worship and You alone we seek for help." The help required in this case is the guidance regarding the purpose of this life (i.e. how should the life be spent). To look for these answers, the wise person, who has already recognized the qualities of his Lord, turns to the Lord and asks Him to "Guide us to the Straight Path. The path of those whom Your blessings are upon, not of those who You have cursed nor of those who have gone astray."

Sūrah al-Fātiḥah, "The Opener", also called “The Exordium”, has many names. This Surah is named Al-Fatihah because of its subject-matter. Fatihah is that which opens a subject or a book or any other thing - it opens the Holy Quran. In other words, Al-Fatihah is a sort of preface. It is also called, Umm Al-Kitab (the Mother of the Book), and Sab'a al Mathani (Seven repeated verses) according to the majority of the scholars, who refer it to a hadith and an ayah. Al-Fatihah was also called Ash-Shifa' (the Cure). It is also called Ar-Ruqyah (remedy). This surah is probably the most recited surah as the 1.6 billion Muslims in the world repeat this surah in their daily prayers at least 17 times a day.

The English translation of the surah is as follows:

In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.

Praise be to Allah, the Cherisher and Sustainer of the worlds;

Most Gracious, Most Merciful;

Master of the Day of Judgment.

Thee do we worship, and Thine aid we seek.

Show us the straight way,

The way of those on whom Thou hast bestowed Thy Grace, those whose (portion) is not wrath, and who go not astray.

The flow of this Surah has another very logical explanation, which can be summarized as the philosophical background of the Surah. As per the Quran, human beings are born with a combination of two things: soul and body. According to this view, a soul is a command of Allah, and therefore naturally recognizes the existence of its Lord and also has the love of its creator. It is the nature on which every child is born as Allah says: "and be steadfast on the Nature whereupon Allah has created mankind" (30:30). Under this view, if the soul has not been perverted (e.g. by repeatedly ignoring its calls - or the calls of the conscience), it is a pure soul.

When a person gets to age of maturity and begets a sound mind, then the combination of a pure soul, a pure heart and sound mind result in Wisdom (Hikmah) which discovers certain facts about the existence of the universe. It is this wisdom which determines that "All praise and thankfulness is to Allah, [The] Creator, Owner, Sustainer of the Worlds", who must be " the All-Compassionate, the All-Merciful" and also must have "no equal", who must be "almighty", "all-knowing", "free of flaws", "just", etc. (most of Allah's names are his qualities as well). Some Muslims believe that these qualities of Allah were recognized by people such as Confucius and Luqman who were not Prophets (i.e. did not receive revelations from Allah), but who acquired this knowledge by reason and wisdom.

Islam also holds that that wisdom demands to be true is that there must be an after-life, where actions of human beings are rewarded or punished for (which is a corollary of the quality of Allah being "Just"). Thus the next ayah calls Allah "Owner of the Day of Recompense." Once the wisdom of a man brings him to these conclusions, he is then left with no choice but to ask this deity, who possesses all the above qualities (i.e. Allah), that "You alone do we worship and You alone we seek for help." The help required in this case is the guidance regarding the purpose of this life (i.e. how should the life be spent). To look for these answers, the wise person, who has already recognized the qualities of his Lord, turns to the Lord and asks Him to "Guide us to the Straight Path. The path of those whom Your blessings are upon, not of those who You have cursed nor of those who have gone astray."

The Throne Verse (Arabic: آية الكرسي ‎ ʾāyatu-l-kursī), or Ayatul Kursi, is the 255th verse (ayah) of the second chapter (sura) Al-Baqarah (the Cow). It is the most famous verse of the Qur'an and is widely memorised and displayed in the Islamic world due to its emphatic description of God's power over the entire universe. The English translation of Ayatul Kursi is as follows:

Allah — there is no God but He, the Living, the Self-Subsisting and All-Sustaining.

No slumber can seize Him nor sleep.

To Him belongs whatsoever is in the heavens and whatsoever is in the earth.

Who is he that will intercede with Him except by His permission?

He knows what is before them and what is behind them;

And they encompass nothing of His knowledge except what He pleases.

His throne extends over the heavens and the earth;

And he feeleth No fatigue in guarding And preserving them,

For He is the Most High. The Supreme (in glory).

Ayatul Kursi displays a perfect internal symmetry comprising concentric looping verses surrounding a pivotal chiasm 'x' of the type A B C D X D' C' B' A' The reciter imagines him or herself walking through Ayat Al-Kursi until reaching the centre and seeing what is in front and what is behind, finds they represent a perfect reflection of each other. The central chiasm is represented by "Ya'lamu ma baina aidihim wa ma khalfahum = He knows what is before them and what is behind them" this is flanked symmetrically outwards so that A corresponds to A', B corresponds to B' and so forth. For example line 3 "he is the lord of the heavens and the earth" corresponds exactly to line 7 "his throne extends over heavens and earth". Such is the beauty of this verse that its arrangement is of high level poetic configuration, worthy of the divine words of God that a born illiterate such as Prophet Muhammad (s.a.w.) could not have created it (the verse) on his own. The Prophet himself acknowledged the power of this verse as evident by his sayings:

“Whoever recites Ayatul Kursi immediately after each prescribed Prayer, there will be nothing standing between him and his entering Paradise except death.” [Narrated by an-Nasaaee. Imaam Al-Albaanee authenticated it in Saheeh al Jam i as-Sagheer : 6464]

Surah Al Kahf has many virtues. It is a Sunnah to recite this Surah every Friday. As well as this, it is reported in hadith (below), that whoever memorises the beginning of this Surah will be protected from the Dajjal.

"Whoever memorizes ten Ayats from the beginning of Surah Al-Kahf will be protected from the Dajjal." [Muslim, Abu Dawud, An-Nasa'i and At-Tirmidhi]

This painting has those ten Ayats. The ten Ayats from the beginning of Surah Al-Kahf are translated as follows:

[All] praise is [due] to Allah , who has sent down upon His Servant the Book and has not made therein any deviance. [He has made it] straight, to warn of severe punishment from Him and to give good tidings to the believers who do righteous deeds that they will have a good reward. In which they will remain forever. And to warn those who say, " Allah has taken a son." They have no knowledge of it, nor had their fathers. Grave is the word that comes out of their mouths; they speak not except a lie. Then perhaps you would kill yourself through grief over them, [O Muhammad], if they do not believe in this message, [and] out of sorrow. Indeed, We have made that which is on the earth adornment for it that We may test them [as to] which of them is best in deed. And indeed, We will make that which is upon it [into] a barren ground. Or have you thought that the companions of the cave and the inscription were, among Our signs, a wonder? [Mention] when the youths retreated to the cave and said, "Our Lord, grant us from Yourself mercy and prepare for us from our affair right guidance."

Ours is a period when the human community is in search of new an sustaining relationships to the earth amidts environmental problems that threatens the very existence of all life-form on our planet. Writer Thomas Berry (1998) observed that that magnitude of destruction in industrial processes is so great that we must initiate a radical rethinking of the myth of progress and of humanity's role in the evolutionary process. Indeed, we should ask ourselves:

About Me

I am an islander,.. well, the island of Penang! Now living in Shah Alam with my beautiful family after having to travel the world for ages: Ipoh for secondary; Melbourne for tertiary; Perth, Guam-USA, Marianna Islands, Marshall Islands, Kerteh!, London, Miami, Cairo and KL for work. Chartered Accountant by training (Media Prima, PwC, Deloitte and Petronas) and now entrusted to manage MyCreative Ventures, a government investment arm for Malaysian creative industry. My passion has always been "creativity" in whatever form - hence this blog came to life.